“I am very sad. He was a good son to me” – David Tshake, father of Moses Tshake

Moses Tshake, a senior auditor for the Free State’s agriculture department, died in May 2013 after a mysterious hijacking in which was brutally assaulted. The attack happened at a time when he was reportedly probing of millions of rands in departmental spending, raising questions of whether there was a connection.

He was allegedly dragged behind a bakkie. Tshake suffered head injuries and other injuries that suggested he was tortured. It was in Bloemfontein Medi-Clinic on 11 May that Tshake passed away. No one has been arrested in connection with the attack.

Tshake’s death is by no means the only instance in which auditors appear to have been targeted. Tshake’s colleague, Vuyisile Mlambo, was reportedly also hijacked in April 2013. In a unrelated, high-profile attack, Lawrence Moepi, a director of forensic company SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was gunned down in October. (An industry peer called Moepi’s assassination the “tip of the iceberg”.)

Stories like these are hard to comprehend; yet many have seen a pattern emerging in which those who tackle corruption, criminality and abuses of power are targeted, harassed, and sometimes killed. Some are whistleblowers, some are activists, some are hard-working civil servants just like Moses Tshake.